How can e-commerce achieve growth during Ramadan ?

This article is based on Meta and Google insights on e-commerce marketing activities during Ramadan 2023 in Saudi Arabia.

Shopping surges are typical during Ramadan. It’s an opportunity to promote products and drive sales. In Saudi Arabia, it’s considered a vital religious month and an opportunity for e-commerce businesses to acquire new customers and drive growth.

This article will help you achieve growth during this month.

Why is Ramadan important for e-commerce businesses?

Ramadan is the month of good deeds. It’s not only about the religious significance, though. Companies consider it a perfect sales season to promote new and old products, especially since people are more open to buying than the rest of the year.

The most generous offers that gain people’s attention are those related to food and groceries. However, other companies have gained attraction and benefited from the shopping surge, especially those with unique perspectives and societal values.

If you are planning a marketing campaign, this is the best time. Here’s why:

Important data:

• 50 Saudis spend more during Ramadan.
• 41% of people in Saudi Arabia are open to discovering new brands and products during Ramadan.
• Downloading shopping apps increases by 15% within the first two weeks of the month, while downloading groceries apps increases by 78% annually.
• During Ramadan, online shopping in Saudi Arabia increases more than in any other period, including Black Friday.
  

What audiences must you target?

You must determine your target audience during Ramadan and identify their behaviors. This will allow you to create relevant content and communicate efficiently with your customers.

According to Google insights, there are 6 buyer personas during this month.

Important data:

The 6 buyer personas are:

• The dedicated Watchers who seek services and products that offer entertaining content.
• The Devoted Fasters focus on spirituality and religious content and services.
• The Foodies who seek recipes, showcase their breakfasts, and look for the best deals.
• The Groomers who search for beauty products and services.
• The Travellers who focus on planning their summer trips and searching for the best deals on hotels and tickets.
• The Gifters and Shoppers who seek the best prices and discounts to shop for Eid gifts.
  

What times are best for marketing?

The impact of Ramadan precedes the month by weeks and lasts long after it ends. Overall, Ramadan can be divided into four significant periods that affect customer behavior differently.

The following infographic is to help you visualize customer behaviors and plan your campaigns accordingly. Google insights inspire this.

Important data:

The four marketing periods are:

• Before Ramadan: sales increase significantly because of preparations for the holy month, at least ten days earlier.
• First week: conversations spike during the first ten days of the month.
• Third week: sales stabilize, with a minor increase starting with the third week.
• Fourth week: sales peak again, and search queries increase significantly because of Eid preparations.
  

Note: People are most active on social media between midnight and 3 am in Sahour time.

What are Ramadan marketing best practices?

Millions of people use social media to reflect, connect and celebrate during Ramadan. Hence, the month is a special occasion for companies; they prepare early to implement the best marketing strategies in advance.

Brands compete to attract attention and gain potential customers through creative marketing tricks.

Here are a few tips you can rely on to strengthen your marketing efforts:

Important data:

• People tend to support local communities more this month; work on your brand awareness by supporting small businesses and the community.
• Content creators and influencers are a source of credibility. Collaborate with influencers to promote your products and connect with your audience.
• Discover new audiences by using mobile marketing. Use people’s favorite communication channels.
• Shopping during Ramadan spikes, and you must prepare and stock ahead to stay afloat and equipped for the second surge.
• People are more price-conscious than ever before, and they expect significant discounts. So prepare your offers early and ensure you reach the right audience at the right time with the right prices.
• People tend to favor brands that align with the inherent values of Ramadan, such as giving and solidarity. Thus, you have to participate in charity events.
• People interact more with entertaining content. Therefore, we advise you to focus on fun content and emphasize your brand as the solution to turn to during unrest.
  

Why is WhatsApp the best marketing channel?

Ramadan can be exhausting. Using WhatsApp to communicate with your customers will help them avoid tiresome checkout forms and confusing landing pages.

SMS is a traditional channel that is losing attention due to several disturbances in the user experience. If you keep using SMS, your marketing campaign performance will drop.

However, WhatsApp API is a perfect solution for your campaigns with high ROI and better customer experience. Your ROI will increase, especially if you are one of the top brands using this platform to reach customers.

Here are the most important reasons why WhatsApp is the best channel for your Ramadan campaigns:

Important data:

• Using WhatsApp to communicate with customers will grant you access to 28.24 million contacts open to business conversations, as 80.5% of Saudis use WhatsApp.
• Emails have an open rate of 25% only. Also, though SMS has an open rate of 82%, the click-through rate doesn’t exceed 35%. Meanwhile, Whatsapp has an open rate of 98%, and the click-through rate exceeds 70%.
• Chatbots offer 24/7 service; your customers can reach out whenever they need.
• You can share multimedia messages such as videos and files to represent your products and services better and push sales.
• Reaching out only to people who opted in to receive your messages will increase conversion rates as they are already interested in what you offer.
  

Bottom line

Research has proven that a surge in e-commerce activities during Ramadan will likely continue throughout the year. To maintain conversions, you must be visible to consumers before and during the month. Be aware of the importance of this month and prepare ahead.

You must also determine your audience clearly and identify the most critical shopping periods. Then, use the tactics we discussed on WhatsApp to build a successful marketing strategy.

Try the Kartly platform on WhatsApp during Ramadan to increase customer communications. Schedule a demo to learn how you can benefit the most from Ramadan with WhatsApp API.

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